PHOTO: Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle reach UConn Huskies' first-round picks wall after 2024 NBA draft

The Connecticut basketball program has a rich history of producing top-tier talent, and Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle are now part of it. The two former UConn players were selected in the first round of the 2024 NBA draft.

After the draft, Castle and Clingan found their names etched alongside other UConn greats on the school's NBA First Round Pick wall.

Evan Rodriguez, a sports journalist from Storrs Central, shared a tweet on Thursday informing that the university has added the duo's names to the prestigious wall.

"Forgot to add this today, but UConn wasted no time adding Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan to the NBA 1st Round Pick wall."

The wall stands as a visual portrayal of the program’s success in developing players who go on to compete at the highest professional level. It features some iconic names such as Ray Allen, Kemba Walker, Scott Burrell, Emeka Okafor and Caron Butler.

The San Antonio Spurs chose Stephon Castle as the fourth overall pick, while Donovan Clingan was chosen seventh overall by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Castle, a 6-foot-6 guard, became only the fifth Huskies player to be a top 5 pick in the NBA draft. He joined UConn before the 2023 college season and played a year there, averaging 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists.

Clingan was initially projected to be a top pick by some experts. Some even speculated the Spurs might go for him to pair up with Victor Wembanyama. But San Antonio picked Clingan's teammate Stephon Castle instead.

Clingan spent two seasons at Connecticut, guiding the team to the national championship in both years. Although he did not start any games in his freshman year, he made a significant impact coming off the bench and was eventually selected for the Big East All-Freshman team.

UConn's Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer drafted on night two

Apart from Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, two other players from the NCAA winning team were selected on the draft.

The Indiana Pacers landed a 6-foot-5 guard Tristen Newton with the 49th overall pick, while the Detroit Pistons picked Cam Spencer with the 53rd overall.

Newton led the Huskies last season in points (15.1) and assists (6.2) and was second in rebounds (6.6). Meanwhile, Spencer was second in points (14.3) but led the team in 3-point shooting (44%).

Pick No.	Player	Position	Team
4	Stephon Castle	SG	San Antonio Spurs
7	Donovan Clingan	C	Portland Trail Blazers
49	Tristen Newton	G	Indiana Pacers
53	Cam Spencer	SG	Detroit Pistons

With that, Dan Hurley's UConn became the college team with the most draft selections in this year's draft, totaling four picks. Kentucky and Colorado followed closely behind, each seeing three of their players selected in the draft.